…the musings of Melissa Billington, creatrix of MYOGA Freedom Online Yoga School & PocaHAUNTus–shapeshifting history into HerStory, & co-host of WhitePeople Whispering, as she connects with the land, water and fellow critters round this glorious globe!

trust the longer journey–blossom now!, a playshop coming your way

Nearly a year ago I wrote this enigmatic combination of directives–trust the longer journey — blossom now! What can it possibly mean? What’s come out of following my own instructions in the past 12 months? There are a few phrases that have emerged for me as guides:

give it all away

I can do no other

just because I care less doesn’t mean I’m careless

Trusting the longer journey & blossoming now, or giving it all away, seem like they oppose one another. My last post speaks directly to “giving it all away” & in an upcoming post I’ll address “just because I care less doesn’t mean I’m careless”. Now what I’d like to explore is this idea of “I can do no other”.

In about 4 weeks time I’ll hold a playshop (more fun than a workshop) in Wellington at what used to be my studio, Powa Centre. Recently, I told a one-hour class about this playshop & was surprised that their first & immediate reaction was that it would be impossible for them because it’s 4 hours long. For me, 4 hours isn’t long enough! But I also know that what we’ll be doing is totally accessible because it’s not all about physical forms of yoga. So here’s how the story may play out on 10 Sept at Centre for Higher Self, 1:30-5:30pm…

When you commit to attend, I’ll ask you to define what’s been tugging at you to flower, that you haven’t yet opened into. This way I can organize our short time to more directly address your needs. On the day, you’ll arrive in time to start on time so as to not lose one precious moment of this opportunity. I will have purified the room with sage smoke & will then do the same with each person as s/he enters (science has recently proven this ancient practice, if that helps your mind take it in). We will then set ourselves in a circle, gathering whatever yoga props support your stability & strength, & you’ll also bring your water, notebook & pen.

This playshop encompasses, in a cursory way, the essence of the entire MYOGA Seasonal Structure. This Spring, in Wellington, Debbie (a MYOGA 200 hour trained teacher currently teaching MYOGA Seasons on Tuesdays at the Centre) & I will start holding quarterly playshops to dive deeper & expand farther into each MYOGA Season. Those playshops will be the place to challenge yourself physically & will be suited to those who have a regular asana practice.

However, this coming playshop is not particular to any time of year, or of life. It is truly open to all & is offered as a way of clear-seeing where & how you are right now so that you can more intentionally blossom outwards, at some stage. We all have our own individual pacing & your blossoming stage may be farther down the line than the person next to you, yet these practices will set the seeds of desire, with clarity & vision, for what it means to more fully Be You. Such an annoying statement, I know–Be you. I’ve heard many gurus say this & it has chaffed me for years. How could I be anything else but me? Ah, good question. By asking the question & stepping back from behaviors & identities to see them from just a little more distance, I am then able to say, “Is this me? Do I want this to be me?” ONLY with that distance, that awareness, is it possible to make a choice.

You’ll need a notebook & pen for this brief time we have together because I will be asking you a number of questions, posing provocations for you to write down & take with you. And this is partly how we understand the brilliance of trusting the longer journey. There’s a faith in this practice. A faith in your own unfolding. A faith that the conditions for that unfolding from tight bud into brilliant blossom will, one day, be perfect-enough in your natural environment & the phrase, “I can do no other” may even come to mind.

I will guide you through a spiral of your chakral energies, accessed on all levels — mental, emotional & psychological through the written provocations, and physical & energetic through meditation-in-motion & sounding practices. Four hours will fly by, I can assure you! Some of you know I’ve been studying comedy & it is my every intention to weave the wisdom of taking oneself lightly into our time together. I may even manage to have a small stand-up bit ready for you, if appropriate. I will also use other modalities or techniques, such as First Nation sacred ceremony, Core Shamanic drumming journey, guided movement that is yogic but not necessarily considered yoga asana, as well as bits & pieces I have gathered over the years from acting training & other embodied practices like martial arts & dance. You are welcome to note any techniques or practices that you want to continue on your own &, of course, most of myoga practices are available online now.

So what does this mean, “I can do no other”? Lately I’ve been really aware of how percussive our chosen world is — this Earth. It’s just exactly the right balance of elements to make movement possible. If it were all earth or stone, there could be no self-expression, no space to move in. And if it were all space, like in gravity-less outer space, any movements would lack groundedness & would more visibly move us away from other objects. Internally we are about 75% water & my personal focus these past 2 years has been, as Bruce Lee advised, to “be like water my friend”. I can do no other means for me that I flow like water. Like water, I find a way. Yet if our worlds were All flow, there would be no music, no percussion, nothing that collided with anything else. So we have this immense opportunity to make more harmony out of the inherent music of being in this more-solid state, our bodies on Earth. We are not ghosts — we make a physically-felt impact & we can also learn to do it more musically.

I had the great opportunity to get to know my 6 year old godson recently & after a number of days of him crashing up against me & everyone else around him, I said to him, “Be more like water & less like stone.” Since he’s studying Jujitsu & has a scooter, I could equate what he’s learning there to this idea. When you learn to flow with or around seeming obstacles, there is less collision & crash, less pain & percussion. More harmony & humor. By the end of our time together I sensed that he was getting it — he was learning how to anticipate, collaborate & channel his energies.

What about fire? I haven’t mentioned fire. Well, in the playshop we begin there. In fact, to even get yourself to the playshop you’d already have to begin there. You’d have to have enough vision to make a commitment & show up. Fire is passion & desire applied to action. Without it there would also be no life. We are blessed with just the right balance of what we need to seed, grow, blossom, fruit, regenerate, & cycle over & over again through these dynamics. Yes, we are animal creatures, yet we can learn from the wisdom of the plants how to trust the longer journey & blossom now!

If, by the end of our short time in the playshop, you do not feel in some way transformed, lightened, &/or enthused about your very existence, I will not have done my job. However, first I’ll ask you whether you have done your job by fully engaging with the practices, fully showing up for yourSelf. It’s ballsy work to face oneSelf & this is partly why self/home practice hasn’t yet caught on. It requires you to have enough self-authority to claim space & time to hang out in your own skin, to be with yourSelf in all your glory, as well as through all your crap. On this note, anyone who is a current MYOGA Online Yoga School member pays only $60 NZD for the 4 hours instead of $75, as a way of honoring the work/play that you do! If you’d like to see all the vital info laid out in a FB Event, click here. Contact me (melissa@myoga.co.nz) asap to reserve your space, as flowering is an intimate affair & space is limited.